The Peril of Today’s Confused Carnivore

Should we or shouldn’t we? Should we dine at Ruth’s Chris or venture to the local food court and chomp down on veggies and beans for lunch? It’s a predicament we perhaps don’t really think much of, but it is something that Mark Bittman considered as his waistline and cholesterol grew. Oh and also he cared about the environment and the eventual tons of greenhouse gasses that make their way into our environment as major industries seek to satisfy our large carnivorous populations desire for meat, meat, meat.

What’s my take on this? Well I am proudly BIAS! I have been a devout vegetarian for sometime now and the thought of eating meat would turn my stomach faster than it took Mr. Bittman to realize he needed to change his ways. But, I must say that my desire to peruse through the herbivore side of life was far less altruistic and benevolent than Mr. Bittman. I had no inclination about greenhouse gasses and I wasn’t well versed on the issue of animal cruelty (sadly, I fall into that category of people who only feel true compassion for the cute-faced creatures like baby seals and baby chickens). But his article in the Globe makes me happy, albeit indirectly that I am not responsible for adding to environmental ills due to consumption of meat. So what that my intention was not to save the planet. I’m not a tree hugger, I simply didn’t like meat so I gave it up. And, with that being said, I have the added benefits of helping out the environment.

Mr. Bittman – wouldn’t it be great if communities of people would adopt this approach to life? Not only would we be a healthier population (my super low blood cholesterol nearly brings my doctor to tears every time), we’d also probably have less incidents of environmentally related cancers due to less greenhouse gas emissions! From a nation and global perspective this would be awesome for health! We should all get on the vegetarian, or even more omnivore (hoping to be more herbi than carni) bandwagon. Woo Hoo!